Spark-plug



C. D. CLELAND.

SPARK PLUG.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 3, 1917. RENEWED DEC. 2. 1919.

1,346,003 P tent d uly 6, 1920.

INVENTOR C. D. Cleland ATTORNEY PATENT OFFIQE.

CARL D. CLELAND, 0F JEAN, NEVADA.

SPARK-PLUG.

. Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 6, 1920.

Application filed July 3, 1917, Serial No. 178,429. Renewed December 2, 1819. Serial No. 342,013.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CARL D. CLELAND, a citizen of the United States, residing at Jean, in the county of Clark and State of Nevada, have invented new and useful Improvements in Spark-Plugs, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to internal combustion engines, and more especially to the sparking igniters therefor, the same belng of the make-and-break type having an oscillating electrode; and the object of the 1nvention is to produce a device of this kind which is adapted for use in positions where the actuating mechanism is a rod exerting either a push or a pull intermittently. In other words the device constituting the subject matter of the present invention is an oscillating electrode having a contact arm capable of being set (t either side of the spark plug proper, and mechanism at its outer end capable of being set according as the actuating rod exerts a push or a pull.

Details of the preferred construction are set forth in the following specification, and reference is made to the accompanying drawings wherein Figure 1 is a bottom plan view of the plate in which this device is mounted, showing the contact arm in full lines at one side of the spark plug proper, and in dotted lines at the other side of the same.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the mechanism carried at the outer side of the plate.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional View on about the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, showing the actuating parts as reversed from the position they occupy in Fig. 2.

In the drawings the letter P designates a plate which may be bolted or screwed over an opening in the head of the cylinder, or which in fact might be the head itself, but preferably I make this plate a separate member and circular in contour so that it may be set as desired. Mounted through an insulation bushing I within this plate is a spark plug S to whose outer end leads the feed wire W. No novelty is claimed for this element, excepting that its inner end should have a head 1 consisting of a hard metallic knob or button of such size that it may be ground or turned off as it burns or wears away. This button is electrically connected with the wire W, and the device as a whole constitutes the fixed electrode.

F ixed through the plate adjacent the insulation is a sleeve 2 within which is mounted a rock shaft 3. Carried by the lower end of this shaft is a collar 4. which in turn carries a rocker arm 5 disposed at right angles to the length of the shaft and adapted to be moved into contact with the button 1. Two steps 6 and 7 depend from the plate P at opposite'sides of the fixed electrode, and in Fig. 1 the rocker arm is shown as moving between one stop 6 and the button 1, although it may be adjusted as shown in dotted lines so that it could move between the opposite stop 7 and the button 1 and in that case the movement of course would be in the opposite direction. In either case the circuit is broken when the rocker arm contacts with its stop, whichever stop is in use, and the circuit is closed when the rocker arm is moved so as to contact with the button. Through the outer end of the arm may be fastened a pin or contact point 8 of suitable material tomake good electrical contact with the button 1, and this also may be ground or cleaned when it becomes worn or dirty.

Loosely mounted on the upper end of the rock shaft 3 is a hole 13in the hub 12 of the actuating arm 11 which projects radially from the shaft over the plate P. Mounted on said shaft above the hub 12 is a hole 14 in the hub 15 of the finger 16 which projects outward over the arm 11 and turns downward at its tip alongside said arm, and through said tip and arm are registering holes. Through the latter extends a bolt 17 having expansion springs 18 and- 19 coiled on its body under its head and nut and respectively outside the" finger and the arm. The hub 15 is held fast on the shaft by a set screw 25, and a screw 24 may take into a socket 23 in the upper end of the shaft if it is thought necessary to connect a ground wire direct with the shaft, although the ground is through the plate and the cylinder in the usual construction of parts. Near the outer end of the arm 11 a hole 21 is formed through it and a groove 22 formed in it, and the rod it (whatever its type and whether it is pushed or pulled) may thereby be connected with the arm. I

lVith the parts constructed as above described, it is obvious that when the arm shown in dotted lines it must move in the opposite direction, and in either case its outward movement away from said button is checked by its contact with a'stop. So also is it possible to replace the actuating arm on the upper end of the rock shaft either side up, and then when the finger is replaced, its depending tip will pass to one side or to the other side of the body of said arm but the holes in these elements will al- Q ways register. Thebolt.1'7 is now passed through these holes with the spring 18 at one side and the spring 19 at the other side of said members, and the nut applied to the bolt. When now the rod is connected with either the hole 21 or the groove 22 at the outer end of the arm, at each impulse of the eccentric or other mechanism which either pushes or pulls said rod, the arm 11 will be swung away from the finger against the 7 tension of one of the springs, the rockshaft turned, and the rocker arm moved into contact with the button; and when the impulse on therod R7 is exhausted, the spring will restore the parts to normal position and break the circuit. Said rod R almost invariably leads transversely across the head of the cylinder, and in a two-cylinder engine thereare two such rods which are ordinarily given their impulses by eccentrics on a shaft extending alongside the body of the engine,

which shaft is rotated by and in timed relation with the main shaft as well understood. It follows that one rodwill exerta push and the other a pull in order to close the circuit and actuatethespark plug, and ac cordingly the parts of the devices on the two cylinders must be appropriately set. My invention is therefore applicable to either cylinder, and by its adjustability it is applicable to single-cylinder engines or v multiple-cylinder engines whose rods R lead in various directions and are variously actuated. I do not wish to be limited to the proportions and materials of parts, nor to details other than as set forth in the follow ing claims.

hat is claimed as new is 1'. In a sparking igniter for internal combustion engines, the combination with a plate, and a fixed electrode therethrough and connected with the source of electricity; of a rock shaft rotatably mounted through the plate adjacent said electrode, a rocker arm projecting radially from said shaft to one side of the fixed electrode, an actuating arm movably mounted on the projecting end of said rock shaft and adapted to be connected at its outerend with the trip mechanism, a finger fixedly and adj ustably mounted on said rock shaft beyond the actuating arm and having a downturned tip passing alongside said arm, the downturned tip and the arm being pierced with registering holes, a boltpassing loosely through said holes,

and expansive'springs coiled on the bolt at opposite sides of the perforated members and under the head andnut of the bolt, for the purpose set forth. 7 p

7 2. In. an, oscillating-electrode sparking igniter of the type described, the combina- ;tion with a rock shaft adapted to be mounted through thehead of a cylinder and having a threaded socket in its upper end and a rocker arm at its lower end for contact with the fixed electrode, and an actuating arm having atits inner end a hub provided with a hole loosely mounted on the upper end of said shaft and at its outer'end means for connection with the trip mechanism; of a finger having at its inner end an upright hole adapted to be mounted on the rock shaft above the hub of said arm and at .its outer end a downturned tip adapted to be placed selectively along either side of said arm,the tip and arm being piercedwith registering perforations,'a bolt extending through said perforations and carrying springs at opposite sidesjof the finger and tip for holding them normally inncontact, a screw in said socket for holding the finger on the rock shaft, and a set screw for permitting its adjustment thereon. r .1 r

In testimony whereof I affix my signature. 1 v V i V V 1 GARL'D. CLELAN-D. 

